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50m tonnes of e-waste generated every year – and it is increasing
Better links between
designers, manufacturers and recyclers are needed to stem the tide of
electronic junk
The developing world is becoming the west's digital dumping ground.
Every year around 50m tonnes of unwanted electronic devices make their way to
vast e-waste dumps in Guiyu in China and
Agbogbloshie in Ghana – often illegally.
Some of them
will be repaired and resold. Others will be broken into their components, at
considerable expense to the environment and people's health, and sold as raw
materials to manufacturers. Yet more will be left as piles of toxic litter.
The absurdity of manufacturing a device in China, shipping it around the
world to a European consumer and then, when it is disposed of, shipping it
straight back to an e-waste dump close to where it was built is not lost on the
Electronics TakeBack Coalition (ETBC), a group of organisations that promote
green design and responsible recycling in the electronics industry.
"We're buying more, getting rid of it [more quickly] and design changes
are, in some ways, making recycling even more challenging," says Barbara
Kyle, the ETBC's UK co-ordinator.
In fact, only around 13% of the e-waste generated each year is recycled.
The increasing amounts of digital tech brought by middle-class consumers in
China, India and Africa is a growing part of the problem. If the trend
continues, the annual amount of global e-waste will be 65m tonnes by 2017,
according to the STEP initiative (also known as solving the
e-waste problem). Couple this with shortages of some rare earth metals and other resources from mining
operations, and it is clear that something needs to change.
Part of the
solution involves "closing the loop", which in this context means
reclaiming and reusing valuable materials from discarded devices in an ethical,
environmentally friendly way. Schemes aimed at building connections between
designers, manufacturers and end-of-life disposal companies are springing up in
response.
To
read more Click here: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/50m-tonnes-ewaste-designers-manufacturers-recyclers-electronic-junk
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